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Noting the "high degree of cruelty, viciousness and callousness" of the murder, Kern County Superior Court Judge John R. Brownlee sentenced Simmons to 50 years to life in prison Wednesday morning. Simmons exhaled deeply near the end of the proceedings but otherwise showed no emotion.

"In cases like this, no amount of time fixes things for (the victim's family)," prosecutor David Wilson said afterward.

He said the victim's daughter was pleased with the sentence.

Patricia Largent, a sister of Hill's, said her brother had his share of problems, but he didn't deserve to die the way he did.

"He was really good-hearted, but always into drugs," said Largent, who added that the rest of Hill's large family is doing "all right."

Largent said Hill had lived with Simmons for a while, and the two enjoyed fishing together. They'd known each other about six months, she said.

Simmons' attorney, Richard Terry, did not return a call for comment.

Prosecutors say Simmons, 60, and Hill had gotten into a fist fight last summer, and Simmons ended up getting the worst of it. Eight days later, Hill called and asked if he could come over with a 12-pack of beer as a kind of peace offering.

Simmons agreed. Within a short time after Hill's arrival, however, Simmons had shot his 52-year-old former friend in the face, according to prosecutors.

The gunshot caused Hill to swallow fragments of his jawbone and a sizable quantity of blood. But it didn't kill him.

Over at least the next 40 minutes and possibly as long as six hours, Simmons considered what to do next, prosecutors said. He testified that he smoked a couple cigarettes, downed a few shots of whiskey and talked to God about what he'd done.

Then he shot Simmons twice more, killing him.

Prosecutors say Simmons loaded the body into his pickup and drove to the Hanning Flat Campground area of Isabella Lake, where he buried him. A few days later, Kern County sheriff's deputies responded to the area for a report of a hand sticking out of the sand.

Evidence including blood inside Simmons' home, and a rake and shovel in his truck, were soon found, deputies reported.

A second man, Clifton Ray Blake, had been staying with Simmons and prosecutors had alleged he was involved in the crime. But Simmons testified that Blake wasn't at his house at the time of the killing, and the jury acquitted him.

The body of a large paddle-tailed rodent was found early Tuesday in the traffic lanes of southbound Mohawk Street north of Truxtun Avenue, suggesting Bakersfield's fabled bike path beaver -- scourge of local saplings -- may have died.

The lush grasses and sweeps of wildflowers cloak much of the damage to the small canyon in a blanket of ephemeral green. But Ellen Cypher and Erin Tennant can see it as they walk along a sandy route that has been churned into the bottom of the wash by motorcyclists and quad riders.

Even Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez's self-serving, disingenuous and downright contemptuous ranting against a proposed ban of Piccolo Pete and ground flower-type fireworks wasn't nearly as stunning to me as Supervisor David Couch's silence and eventual vote against the ban.